Aerosmith

• 1. Introduction

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  Aerosmith formed in Boston in 1970, and by the time they retired from touring more than five decades later, they had sold more than 150 million records worldwide. That number makes them the best-selling American hard rock band of all time. But the story behind that record is anything but smooth. There were drug collapses, feuds loud enough to fracture the band, a decade-long comeback that defied almost every expectation, and a fateful collaboration with a rap group that most hard rock acts of the era would never have attempted. How does a band go from dissolving in acrimony to headlining Disney theme parks? How does a frontman walk back onto a stage after literally falling off it? And what is it about five musicians from Boston and Yonkers that made their sound outlast almost every rival of their generation?

• 2. Five from Two Bands

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  In 1964, Steven Tyler formed a band called the Strangeurs in Yonkers, New York. He was playing drums at the time, a fact that would matter greatly a few years later. That same period saw Joe Perry and Tom Hamilton playing together in a free-form blues outfit called the Jam Band. Perry and Hamilton relocated to Boston in September 1969, where they crossed paths with Joey Kramer, a drummer from Yonkers who was studying at the Berklee College of Music. Kramer already knew Tyler and had long hoped to play alongside him.

  The two bands collided at a gig in New Hampshire in 1970. Tyler heard the Jam Band play and immediately wanted to merge the two groups. When the bands reconvened in October 1970 to discuss the idea, Tyler made one condition non-negotiable: he would not play drums. He insisted on being the frontman. The others agreed.

  The new group moved into a home together at 1325 Commonwealth Avenue in Boston, where they wrote, rehearsed, and spent afternoons watching Three Stooges reruns. The band's name came from Kramer, who had been writing the word "aerosmith" in his school notebooks after hearing Harry Nilsson's album Aerial Ballet, which featured jacket art of a circus performer jumping out of a biplane. His bandmates initially thought he was referencing the Sinclair Lewis novel Arrowsmith, which they had read in high school. "No, not Arrowsmith," Kramer explained. "A-E-R-O...Aerosmith." The band also considered the names "the Hookers" and "Spike Jones" before settling on Kramer's suggestion.

  Their first live show took place on the 6th of November 1970, at Nipmuc Regional High School in Mendon, Massachusetts. Ray Tabano, a childhood friend of Tyler, played rhythm guitar at the outset. In 1971, Tabano was replaced by Brad Whitford, who had also attended the Berklee School of Music and was from Reading, Massachusetts.

• 3. The Making of a Hard Rock Band

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  Aerosmith signed with Columbia Records in mid-1972 for a reported $125,000. The deal came about partly through the work of managers David Krebs and Steve Leber, who arranged for Columbia president Clive Davis to see the band perform at Max's Kansas City in New York City. The band was not on the original bill that night; they reportedly paid out of their own pockets to secure a spot, and are said to be the only band ever to have done so at that venue.

  Their debut album, Aerosmith, was released in January 1973 and peaked at number 166 on the charts. The record was straightforward blues-inflected rock. "Dream On" reached number 59 as a single, while tracks like "Mama Kin" and "Walkin' the Dog" became live staples. The album eventually sold two million copies and was certified double platinum, though not until the band had already become stars.

  Get Your Wings followed in 1974, the first of a run of multi-platinum albums produced by Jack Douglas. It included rock radio hits "Same Old Song and Dance" and a cover of "Train Kept A-Rollin'", previously recorded by the Yardbirds. The album has sold three million copies in total.

  Toys in the Attic, released in 1975, was the turning point. The album established Aerosmith as international contenders, competing with bands like Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones. Critics had previously dismissed Aerosmith as Rolling Stones knockoffs, partly because of a perceived physical resemblance between Tyler and Mick Jagger. Toys in the Attic silenced that comparison. "Sweet Emotion" became the band's first Top 40 hit. A re-release of "Dream On" hit number 6. "Walk This Way", re-released in 1976, reached the Top 10 in early 1977. Toys in the Attic went on to become the band's bestselling studio album in the United States, with certified US sales of nine million copies.

  Rocks arrived in 1976. Music historian Greg Prato described it as capturing Aerosmith "at their most raw and rocking". It featured two Top 40 hits, "Last Child" and "Back in the Saddle", went platinum quickly, and has since sold more than four million copies. Both Toys in the Attic and Rocks appear on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Members of Guns N' Roses, Metallica, and Motley Crue have cited them as influential. Kurt Cobain listed Rocks in his journal in 1993 as one of the albums most influential to Nirvana's sound.

• 4. The Toxic Twins Era

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  Draw the Line came out in 1977 and sold two million copies, but the recording process was compromised by the band's excesses. Tyler and Perry had by then acquired the nickname "the Toxic Twins" for their notorious drug use on and off stage. Tyler later claimed to have spent $64 million on drugs during this period. Perry later disputed the figure with blunt arithmetic, saying it was impossible to spend that much and still be alive.

  During this period, Aerosmith appeared in the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band film. Their cover of The Beatles' "Come Together" from that soundtrack became the band's last Top 40 hit for nearly ten years. The double vinyl album Live! Bootleg, issued in 1978, documented the rawness of the Draw the Line tour.

  The breaking point came at Cleveland Stadium on the 28th of July 1979, during the World Series of Rock festival. A backstage confrontation between Tyler and Perry, following a physical altercation between their wives, ended with Perry leaving the band. Perry took music he had written with him upon departure and formed the Joe Perry Project. Brad Whitford left in 1981 to form a duo with Derek St. Holmes.

  With replacement guitarists Jimmy Crespo and Rick Dufay, Aerosmith released Rock in a Hard Place on the 27th of August 1982. It reached number 32 on the Billboard 200. The band struggled to fill venues; they were reduced to playing clubs and theaters they could not reliably sell out. Tyler collapsed on stage twice during this stretch, once in Portland, Maine, in 1980, and again at a homecoming arena show in Worcester, Massachusetts. In the fall of 1980, Tyler was also injured in a motorcycle accident that left him hospitalized for two months.

  On the 14th of February 1984, Perry and Whitford attended an Aerosmith show at Boston's Orpheum Theater. That visit led directly to discussions about a reunion. Within months, the five original members were in the same room together for the first time since the split. Tyler described the moment: "You should have felt the buzz the moment all five of us got together in the same room for the first time again. We all started laughin'...We knew we'd made the right move."

• 5. Comeback and Sobriety

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  The reunion Back in the Saddle Tour launched in 1984, but the band's drug problems were unresolved. Done with Mirrors, released in 1985 on Geffen Records, received some positive reviews but only went gold and failed to produce a hit single. Its most notable track, "Let the Music Do the Talking", was a cover of a song originally recorded by the Joe Perry Project.

  The decisive shift came in 1986. An unprecedented crossover collaboration placed Aerosmith on Run-D.M.C.'s cover of "Walk This Way", a record that blended rock and roll with hip hop. The song reached number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100, and its frequently aired video introduced Aerosmith's music to a new generation. That same year, Tyler completed a drug rehabilitation program following an intervention by his bandmates, a doctor, and manager Tim Collins, who reportedly pledged in September 1986 that he could make Aerosmith the biggest band in the world by 1990 if they all got clean. The rest of the band followed over the next couple of years.

  Permanent Vacation, released in August 1987, was, in Tyler's own words from his autobiography, "the first one we ever did sober." It sold five million copies in the United States and sent all three of its singles, "Dude (Looks Like a Lady)", "Angel", and "Rag Doll", into the Top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100. Producer Bruce Fairbairn brought outside songwriters into the process, including Desmond Child, Jim Vallance, and Holly Knight. Tyler was initially furious that Knight received a songwriting credit for changing a single word, turning "Rag Time" into "Rag Doll".

  Pump, released in September 1989 and again produced by Fairbairn, sold seven million copies and ranked as the fourth-bestselling album of 1990. Three of its singles, "Love in an Elevator", "Janie's Got a Gun", and "What It Takes", reached the top ten. The band won its first Grammy for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for "Janie's Got a Gun". The video for that song won two MTV Video Music Awards and was ranked among the 100 greatest videos of all time by Rolling Stone, MTV, and VH1.

  The Pump Tour ran for twelve months, including the band's first-ever performances in Australia in October 1990. On the 21st of February 1990, Aerosmith appeared in a "Wayne's World" sketch on Saturday Night Live, performing "Janie's Got a Gun" and "Monkey on My Back". That appearance was later ranked by E! as the number-one moment in the show's history.

• 6. Peak Commercial Reach

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  Get a Grip, released in 1993, was Aerosmith's first album to debut at number 1. It accumulated seven million copies in sales over a two-and-a-half-year span and more than 20 million copies worldwide. Its power ballads, "Cryin'", "Amazing", and "Crazy", dominated radio and MTV despite critical skepticism. The music videos for those songs featured then up-and-coming actress Alicia Silverstone, whose performances earned her the informal title "the Aerosmith chick". Tyler's daughter Liv Tyler also appeared in the "Crazy" video.

  The band won two Grammy Awards for songs from Get a Grip: for "Livin' on the Edge" in 1994 and for "Crazy" in 1995. The accompanying world tour ran for eighteen months. During that stretch, Aerosmith performed at Woodstock '94, appeared in the film Wayne's World 2, and opened their own club, the Mama Kin Music Hall, in Boston in 1994.

  Nine Lives, released in March 1997, had a troubled production that included the firing of longtime manager Tim Collins and a last-minute change of producer from Glen Ballard to Kevin Shirley. The album sold double platinum in the United States. "Pink" from that record won the band their fourth Grammy Award in 1999.

  In 1998, at the height of the Nine Lives Tour's setbacks, Aerosmith released "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing", written by Diane Warren for the film Armageddon, which starred Liv Tyler. The song debuted at number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and held that position for four weeks, becoming the band's first and only number-one single. It was nominated for an Academy Award in 1999. The following year, the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith opened at Disney's Hollywood Studios at the Walt Disney World Resort, providing the ride's soundtrack and theme.

  On the 9th of September 1999, Tyler and Perry reunited onstage with Run-D.M.C. and were joined by Kid Rock for a live performance of "Walk This Way" at the MTV Video Music Awards.

• 7. Later Years and Farewell

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  Just Push Play, released in March 2001, went platinum quickly behind the Top 10 single "Jaded". That same month, Aerosmith was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the only band inducted while a song from their current album was still active on the charts. In 2001, Tyler and Perry were ranked number 57 and 30, respectively, on Rolling Stone's and VH1's lists of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

  In 2008, the band released Guitar Hero: Aerosmith on June 29, a video game built around their catalogue. It is considered the best-selling band-centric video game ever released. The years surrounding that release were marked by accumulating health problems: Tyler fell from a stage in Sturgis, South Dakota on the 5th of August 2009, sustaining head and neck injuries and a broken shoulder; Perry battled knee injuries; Brad Whitford missed shows while recovering from head surgery; and Tom Hamilton sat out portions of tours due to illness, including a period of treatment for throat cancer in 2006.

  In 2013, Tyler and Perry were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 2020, the band received the MusiCares Person of the Year award. From 2019 to 2022, the band held a Las Vegas concert residency called Deuces are Wild, interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic from 2020 to 2021.

  The end of touring came from Tyler's voice rather than any choice. During the third date of their farewell tour in 2023, he suffered a vocal injury from which he did not recover. Aerosmith formally retired from touring in 2024, though they still play occasional one-off shows. In 2025, the band released its first new music in thirteen years, a collaborative EP with Yungblud titled One More Time. With 25 gold, 18 platinum, and 12 multi-platinum albums, Aerosmith holds the record for the most total certifications by any American group.